Save The Bay’s Hamilton Family Aquarium will open March 28, 2024.
Stay tuned as more updates will appear on this page regularly!
Stay tuned as more updates will appear on this page regularly!
This one-of-a-kind destination allows guests to come face-to-face with the creatures and species that live beneath Bay waters, while also helping visitors build personal connections to the issues that challenge the health of this beautiful natural resource.
Save The Bay is a 100% member-supported nonprofit organization, with a mission to protect and improve Narragansett Bay and a vision of a Bay that is fully fishable, swimmable and accessible to all.
The organization works toward its mission through three main programs: advocacy, habitat restoration and adaptation, and education. Save The Bay’s Hamilton Family Aquarium supports the organization’s educational goals, alongside school and public programming, with the idea that the more you learn about the Bay, the more you care about the Bay!
23 America’s Cup Ave, Newport, R.I. 02840
401-324-6020
Thursday-Monday
10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Daily Summer hours begin May 2
Holiday Closures include:
Easter Sunday; Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday; Christmas Day; and New Year’s Day
General Admission: $15/person
Senior Discount (65 & up): $13/person
Children 2 and Under: Free
Active and Retired Military with ID: Free – applies to the active/retired individuals only
Museums for All participants: Free
Save The Bay Member Rates:
$7.50/person for Save The Bay Family and Bay Club Members
FREE for Save The Bay Seahorse, Salt Marsh Society, Hope Society, and Beacon Society Members
Learn more details about Save The Bay Membership benefits here
Public parking is available nearby at the Gateway Transportation Center Parking Lot.
Learn more from the City of Newport, here
We are located at the Gateway Transportation Center, and accessible by RIPTA Routes 14, 60, 63, 64, 231 Flex, and hop-on-hop-off routes 67 and 68.
Learn more from RIPTA, here
For 14 years, Save The Bay operated its “Exploration Center and Aquarium” at Easton’s Beach. Inherited from the New England Aquarium, the site taught us, not only about operating an aquarium, but also how an aquarium facility can help us extend the reach of our educational programs, allowing us to inspire future Bay stewards of all ages.
From the very start, the idea of a Save The Bay aquarium was founded on one principle:
When you learn more about Narragansett Bay, you care more about Narragansett Bay.
Over the years—and an extensive recovery period following severe damage from Superstorm Sandy—Save The Bay realized that climate change and rising sea levels were making our beachside aquarium impractical—plus, we’d begun to outgrow the space.
When the America’s Cup Ave location became available in 2021, we jumped at the chance to expand our offerings. With early support from a lead donor, the Hamilton Family Charitable Trust, we embarked on a journey to build a new aquarium, and make it easier than ever before to dive beneath the waves of Narragansett Bay.
When you visit Save The Bay’s Hamilton Family Aquarium, you embark on a journey through the fascinating and diverse habitats of Narragansett Bay.
Each habitat is home to a unique group of animals and plants that have evolved to survive perfectly under a specific set of conditions. And, each habitat faces challenges that we can all help address by working to protect and improve Narragansett Bay.
While the ultimate learning experience can only be found by visiting the aquarium, you can test the waters in advance by browsing them below:
Marked by intense wave energy, dramatic tidal flux, and, of course, rocks of all sizes, this common Narragansett Bay habitat is still home to many forms of marine life. As sea levels rise, and coastal development demands increase, we must protect this unique habitat.
With smooth, sloping stretches of sand extending from dunes to the water, Narragansett Bay’s sandy shores are home to unique dune plants, filter feeders, like clams, nesting migratory birds, and much more. Unfortunately, sea level rise and coastal development threaten this unique habitat.
Salt marshes play an important role in Narragansett Bay’s ecosystems by filtering the freshwater that enters the Bay, providing nursery habitat and absorbing storm surge. Accelerated sea level rise, however, is drowning many marshes and compromising many of the species that depend on them.
Eelgrass beds create expansive underwater “meadows” perfect for a variety species, however eelgrass only thrives in very particular conditions: the water must be clean and clear, and the area free from disturbances. Pollution, warming waters, invasive species and human activity all threaten local eelgrass beds.
After beginning life in the Bay’s coastal habitats, many larger species make their way offshore, into deeper waters. Warming waters, and other climate change impacts, like shifting currents and weather patterns, pose challenges for the fish and plants that dwell here.
The collection of freshwater pools, streams, ponds and wetlands collectively referred to as the watershed habitats plays an important role in the water quality of the Bay, while also being home to dozens of unique species.
Sandy bottom habitats are open underwater spaces, offering very little space for animals to find cover. With a lack of rocks and algae to hide behind, the animals that live here have adapted to hide beneath the sand, live in schools, or be constantly on the move.
Darker waters—whether they’re the result of the time of day or the depth of the water—are home to some of the Bay’s most interesting species. Light pollution, marine construction and climate change can all alter the nature of these darker habitats.
If climate change and certain human activities continue unchecked, the changes to water conditions, temperatures and weather patterns will leave Bay waters looking very different than they do today.
This exhibit offers one possible future, highlighting warm-water-loving species that could make their way into local waters.
At Save The Bay, our mission is to protect and improve Narragansett Bay—and our vision is of a fully swimmable, fishable Narragansett Bay, accessible to all.
Access is an integral part of our work, and a cornerstone value of the Aquarium experience we seek to offer. If you want to “dive beneath the waves of Narragansett Bay,” we want to make sure you can.
Save The Bay is proud to be a KultureCity sensory-inclusive location. Our staff are certified in sensory inclusion and we are proud to offer KultureCity sensory bags to any interested guest.
We’re proud to offer touch tanks with lower sidewalls, allowing visitors of all abilities the opportunity to handle and encounter the animals of Narragansett Bay—even when using a wheelchair.
Save The Bay is proud to have joined Museums for All, an Institute of Museums and Library Services initiative. Those receiving food assistance (SNAP) benefits will receive free Aquarium admission for themselves and three additional family members with the presentation of a SNAP Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card.
We want to know where we have room to grow, and invite feedback on where and how we can make our Aquarium more accessible.
Send us a message at [email protected] or give us a call at 401-324-6020.
Interested in coordinating an aquarium program with your class? Head on over to our School Programming page to explore opportunities to work with Save The Bay’s environmental educators.
Birthday parties? Corporate rentals? All this and more are in the works here at Save The Bay’s Hamilton Family Aquarium. Stay tuned for more details in late 2024.